(Part 3)
"Well I'm glad we could settle that." Regina muttered, her eyes still fixed on the woman in front of her. Exactly what to do with Bella, Regina still didn't know. The only thing she knew for certain is that the woman could never get her heart back, lest Regina find herself dead.
"Such unusually dark magic." She heard Bella whisper. The woman was staring at her heart, a heart that was still beating in Regina's palm. "However do you do it?"
Regina scoffed, "even if I told you, you probably wouldn't be able to manage it."
"How dare you!?" Bella shouted.
To Regina's ever hard to come by luck, a figure shuffled into the alleyway before Bella could continue. She quickly tucked the woman's heart into her jacket and folded her arms across her chest to keep it from falling out of place.
"Bellatrix," hissed a voice. "What part of don't take too long do you not understand?"
Bellatrix chuckled gleefully, apparently forgetting her discontent. "The don't part!"
This Bellatrix is truly amazing, Regina pondered to herself. How can someone who just had her heart ripped out be so excited?
"Who is this?" The man asked, motioning to Regina with his cane.
"Why she's Bella's new friend." Bellatrix answered with a wicked grin as she curled an arm over Regina's shoulder. She squeezed just tight enough to make Regina snarl and twitch uncomfortably. "And of course she'll be staying with us, Lucius."
"And here I thought I'd be seeking out a hotel." Regina mumbled. Truly she hadn't expected or even wanted Bellatrix to offer her a place to stay. On the contrary, she rather dreaded the thought of being in the same house as this woman. "What a lovely offer."
Bellatrix shrugged, "I have to make sure my heart is in safe hands. That you don't lose it."
Regina half-snorted, "lose it? How daft do you think I am."
Bellatrix grabbed her wrist and tugged her along. She followed Lucius out of the alleyway, falling intentionally behind. "You and I have much to discuss when we get home."
"What's to discuss. I have your heart. You do what I say."
"You underestimate me. You see, I'll play along for a little while. But of course I will have my turn eventually."
Still safely out of earshot Regina drew Bellatrix's heart out once more. "You won't dare to tell anyone that I have your heart."
Bellatrix rolled her eyes, "but of course not. Where's the fun in that?" Regina could have sworn she detected a hint of sarcasm. And yet the woman skipped happily ahead of her as if the conversation hadn't happened at all. She watched Bellatrix catch up to a blonde woman. Quite beautiful—Regina noted—with her sleek blonde hair, her fair skin, and her pale blue eyes.
A very sharp contrast to her sister. Gorgeous thing really. Regina observed. Or at least she assumed this woman was the sister Lucius had been referring to.
Her eyes fell upon Bellatrix again, out of the darkness of the alleyway Regina decided that the woman was rather beautiful herself. With enticingly sharp, nearly hollow facial features and skin much lighter than her sisters—or perhaps the dark color of those strangely elegant yet messy curls that created an illusion of paleness. She had likely once been a wonder to see. And indeed there was something oddly alluring about the visages of the woman's former perfection. Regina wondered what had managed to dilute such a former beauty.
"Cissy!" She heard Bella call. "Narcissa, why don't we just apperate?"
Regina shook her head, grateful that Bella had snuffed out that train of thought. That loathsome woman was the last person she wanted to find attractive.
"Does your new muggle friend even know how." Narcissa spared her a slanted glance.
"She's no muggle Cissy." Bellatrix's voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. Regina focused in on her but between Bella's hushed volume and the chatter of passerbys she could make out no more.
"Can you apperate?" Both sisters asked at once."
"Apperate?" Regina cocked an eyebrow.
"Teleport. Get from one place to another using magic." Bellarix sighed as if Regina was supposed to have picked up on all of the rules of this land within a short stroll down what she presumed was a shopping district.
"I would need a visual for that."
"So your magic isn't much different from ours after all." Bellatrix tapped her chin. "I'll meet you at the manor, Cissy." She turned to Regina and held out her arm. "Hold on to my arm and don't let go. You mess this up and lose my heart I will find you between dimensions and I will kill you." She paused, "and for the love of Dark Lord Voldemort, don't vomit on my shoes afterwards."
"You'll find I am rather adapt at 'apperation', thank you." She took hold of Bellatrix's arm. Without another word the witch whisked them away.
To Regina's dismay this apperation was nothing like her own ability to teleport in a soothing cloud of purple smoke. No, this method was disorienting and dizzying—seeming to bend and twist and constrict her body and her breathing in ways neither should be. But for the sake of maintaining dignity she was determined to keep it to herself. Once finally settling upon solid ground a wave of nausea overtook the former queen. She felt truly sick, and based upon Bellatrix ever-smug smile she assumed she looked the part as well.
The burbling fountain did little to ease Regina's spinning world.
"Welcome home luv." Bellatrix said with a wide arcing gesture as if to display the grandeur of this place. "Shall we get inside or would you like to make friends with the shrubbery?"
"I'll leave that to you." Regina delivered the comeback weakly. She followed Bellatrix through the gates hoping that she wasn't still wobbling like a drunk.
"My heart?" Bellatrix asked.
"Is fine." Regina replied.
"Good, good, then dinner will go well."
Regina stepped into the foyer onto a marble floor richly carpeted with expensive rugs. Covered just as thickly as the floor were the walls, the entire expanse of them all was covered in portraits, suites of armor, and other lavish things. The place looked even more dank and dismal than her own castle. "Welcome home indeed."
(Part 4)
Regina held Bellatrix's heart up, trying to find a safe place to hide it. Dinner had been a challenge between Bella herself and the Malfoy couple. None of the three seemed to be pleased by her arrival—the Malfoys had been even less thrilled to hear Bella making snide and snappy remarks. "If you don't like her then why the hell is she in my house?" Lucius and complained. To which Bellatrix only shrugged. The woman didn't have an excuse prepared, not even a poor one.
So Regina had sat at the table silently watching as some strange creature—a house elf, or so Bellatrix called it—set food and drink before her. She had watched the wrinkly, big-eared things with a sense of unease. They'd take some getting used to.
It was around that time when Bellatrix decided that she wanted to make a scene. She had apparently forgotten to stop at Gringotts along the way home. And apparently this was Regina's fault. Again Lucius grumbled something about how Bella could very well "just throw our 'guest' out." And how "living with you, Bellatrix is becoming tiresome."
Much to Regina's annoyance, Bella had naturally brushed off those directly offensive words to pick a fight with her. At some point during that verbal sparring match Regina had considered just whipping the woman's heart across the table just to be done with it—and she hadn't even had it for more than a few hours. She wondered momentarily if this woman was only acting so impudently because she is without her heart. But then she recalled what prompted her to take the witch's heart in the first place and decided that Bellatrix was innately a brash person.
It didn't take long for her to decide that she could endure no more. Between the narrow-eyed glances from Narcissa, Lucius' carefully disguised insults, and Bellatrix's blunt expression of her opinions Regina had retreated. Bella alone was enough to drive her away.
She looks like the type of woman who would start kicking at my legs under the table. Regina mused to herself as she lie on the bed that the house elf had shown her to. And Regina had a striking feeling that the kicking was about to start, hence her hasty departure. The woman was honestly exhausting. How the Malfoy couple managed to put up with her was beyond Regina.
Even from in the semi-comfort of the upstairs guest room she could hear Bella's infuriating shrieking laughter. She's louder than Swan, thought Regina bitterly. More childish too. It was as if someone had thrown a child into the body of a grown woman, just one more unsettling thing about her new alley. She looked at the heart in her palm.
She set the still beating thing down on the window sill, it glowed faintly behind the curtains. She stood to inspect the room for somewhere better to put it. No loose floorboards, no holes in the wall.
Of course not. These people had money to spare and then some. The a drawer would be a choice to obvious. The wardrobe equally so. She could hide it in one of the vases, but what if it got used. That would be Bellatrix's problem, she answered herself. Her eyes then fell upon an ancient looking gothic jewelry box. That would work of course it was also a rather obvious hiding spot, but she could better keep track of it. She slipped Bellatrix's heart into its new home and mumbled a quick protection spell.
She set the box on the nightstand beside her bed.
The beating from within it kept her from sleep.
.oOo.
Dawn had just arisen and Bellatrix was already hassling her. Regina had woken up to the woman's voice—"WAKE UP ALREADY! WE HAVE THINGS TO DO!" Followed up by a few swears and the bang of the door as it was kicked in.
"You could have used magic." Narcissa pointed out, pinching the bridge of her snooty nose.
"Hmmph, magic's not as loud as the slamming of a door against a wall." Bella answered dismissively. She turned her attention back on Regina, who lie in the bed with her eyes closed, still pretending to be asleep. "You will come with me to my vault in Gringotts! After all, it is your fault I wasn't able to get there yesterday."
"My fault?" Regina sneered, she looked around to make sure no one else was in ear shot. "I took your heart not your brain."
"Don't you want a tour of the Wizarding World…or at least Diagon Alley?"
"Diagon Alley?"
"The place where you decide to run into me." Bellatrix shrugged.
"Decided? You think I woke up in the middle of the street and decided that I wanted to run into you specifically." She rolled onto her other side and shut her eyes again.
"You will come to Gringotts with me!" Bellatrix demanded again.
"Are we forgetting who's in charge here?" Regina smiled smugly and gave the jewelry a quick and dainty drum of her fingers.
For the briefest moment it was Bella who seemed to look mildly vexed, but her look irritation quickly transformed into self-satisfied smirk. She drew her wand out, "imperio."
A sort of dreamy haze fell over Regina. It was a pleasant feeling really, as if all of the weight that had been piled onto her since Daniel's death just fell off and fluttered away. It felt to her as if she could flutter away. Smiling warmly, she welcomed the feeling and let it take her over.
"Now let's get to Gringotts, shall we?"
Regina followed Bellatrix with a foggy mind until the pair was decently far down Diagon Alley. It was only when they were coming to the intersection of Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley that she released Regina from her curse.
Regina sputtered out a few curses of her own before asking "just where the hell am I?"
"Why I brought you to Gringotts with me, remember luv?" Bellatrix asked pseudo-sweetly, her face aglow with a delighted smile.
Regina merely glowered.
"It's only fair." Bellatrix continued. "You play with my heart, I play with your head." She pressed the tip of her wand to Regina's head at her temple. "Now let's go visit my vault." She nodded her head in the direction of the bank.
Insistent on making this as difficult for Bellatrix as possible, Regina folded her arms of her chest and declared, "you go on ahead, I'll wait out here." To drive her point in she found one of the marble pillars holding up the structure of the bank and leaned upon it.
Bellatrix chuckled. "Oh you're a tricky one aren't you? Alright then luv, just don't get yourself into trouble."
"This is coming from someone who looks like she causes trouble religiously." Regina dismissed the comment.
In response Bellatrix shrugged and made her way through the crowd looking back briefly only to call, "well if you want to cause trouble go ahead, just tell them that Bella sent you."
Regina sought out a nearby bench to sit on, hoping Bellatrix would make her trip quick so she could become acquainted with more interesting parts of the town. The wand shop—Oliver's was it? She couldn't quite recall—looked intriguing. She spent the first few minutes of Bella's absence pondering about the shops. In the next few she began to feel awkward just sitting there without a purpose. After another ten or so minutes she began wondering if Bella had simply ditched her. Feeling even more awkward she slipped her phone out of her purse, the device still didn't have a signal so she couldn't even pretend to be interested in it. She put it back down and settled for drumming her fingers on the arm rest.
"Oh hey! You're okay." She heard someone shout. She didn't look up. "I'm talking to you." Came the voice again.
Regina pointed out herself.
"Yes, you." The girl sat next to her.
"Right you're…" she tried to recall a name, remembered that didn't pay attention when the girl had said it, and settled for "the one who found me laying in street."
"Yes, Hermione Granger." The girl introduced herself again. "I take it you found an adequate place to stay?"
"Well it's a place to stay. I don't know if you could call it adequate." Regina shrugged.
"You seem like you are in better spirits." Hermione pointed out.
Regina sniffed, "hardly."
Apparently Hermione hadn't much to say to that, for she let a silence befall the pair and occupied herself by pretending to be interested in taming her curls. Regina took a sudden interest in finding shapes in the clouds.
"Say, what do you know of Bellatrix Lestrange?" Regina asked finally.
Hermione's eyes widened, but only for a moment. Regina couldn't quite make out what the girl was feeling, she just knew that it was something negative. "Her? Why?" She answered at last.
"It's just that." Regina paused. "I have heard the name come up on more than one occasion now."
"I'm not surprised. She's as infamous as Harry is famous. And she's honestly quite dreadful."
You're telling me, Regina thought bitterly. "Exactly what makes her so infamous?"
"Well, I don't even know where to start." Hermione began.
Regina eyed the doors to Gringotts, searching the ever moving crowd. Somewhere in her mind told her that she didn't want Bellatrix to catch her talking to Hermione. And that she didn't want Hermione to see her with Bella.
"She's er… not very stable for one. She has killed people for the sake of killing people…"
Been there myself, dear.
"…her own cousin."
"What about him? I'm sorry I missed what you said."
"She killed him." Hermione repeated herself. "Torture usually always makes her smile. I have a friend named Neville, she tortured his parents until their minds went so hectic that they couldn't recognize him."
Regina shot another nervous look at the bank and considered ending the conversation. Come to think of it, Regina thought, she had mentioned this during our squabble hadn't she. She'd let Hermione help her sort the truths from the lies.
"She's a death eater." Hermione added.
"This is the second time I've heard that word." Regina snapped, annoyed by her own lack of knowledge. "What…who are they?"
"They're Voldemort's followers. They hate muggle borns and half bloods." She explained, "people like me." And for Regina's sake added, "people who were born to one muggle and one pureblood or in my case two muggle parents. It's somewhat complicated."
"In other words they are elitists?"
"That's correct." Hermione confirmed. "And some time back they, led by Lord Voldemort, tried to kills us all off. Only purebloods deserved to exist in their perfect, twisted world."
"And Bellatrix was one of them." Regina asked for further confirmation.
"She was one of them yes. More than one of them really. She was his…Voldemort's right hand woman. Frighteningly loyal she did anything he wanted her to do and then some. She devoted herself whole heartedly to his cause. I'm fairly certain that Bellatrix disowned her own sister after she had married a muggle born." Hermione replied.
"That's truly lovely." Regina stated sarcastically.
"Unless you're a pureblood I would avoid her at all costs." Hermione concluded.
Regina gnawed nervously at her cheek. Her mother had indeed been a magic user, though the same couldn't be said for her father. She herself didn't really have that spark for the longest time. "Thank you Hermione."
"You're welcome. If there's anything else you'd like to know you can send me an owl." She offered with a quick explanation. "You can buy one at the Owl Post."
Regina nodded, before catch a glimpse of Bellatrix's slender figure slinking out of Gringotts. Hermione looked like she was about to say something else. "If you'd excuse me I have to leave."
"Oh. Um, alright. I do hope to see you again." Hermione smiled.
"Yes, perhaps." Regina replied before slipping hastily into the crowd, leaving Hermione quite baffled at her sudden departure.
Regina glanced back to make sure the girl hadn't been fool enough to follow her and managed to slam into someone.
"You really have a knack for running into me don't you?" Bellatrix grumbled. "What were you doing anyhow?"
"You took too long so I went exploring." Regina lied.
"Oh good, so that means we can just go right home?"
"You dragged me all the way out here so you will take me out to see the town. Should you decide go back to the manor, I will speak into your heart and we will end up right back over here." Regina declared.
Bellatrix let out the most melodramatic sigh Regina had heard in a while. "Alright fine, follow me."
"Besides, there is something I would like to discuss with you Bella."
(Part 5)
Regina had to confess that she had been paying only half attention as Bella listed off the names of the shops and restaurants rooted to the sidewalks of Diagon Alley. She was more or less preoccupied with wording what she'd soon say. How she would bring the topic up without disclosing where she had found her information.
"Do you have a preference? You strike me as the picky type." Bellatrix broke through her stream of though.
"Preference for what?" Regina asked.
Bellatrix let out a hiss of irritation. As if the woman doesn't have problems paying attention herself, Regina thought bitterly.
"Where would you like to eat?" Bellatrix rephrased.
"That last place you mentioned." Regina shrugged.
"The last place I mentioned was Ollivanders. If you fancy eating wands we could always find you a nice man, maybe Cissy will let you borrow Lucius."
"The last food place you mentioned." Regina corrected, making a point of ignoring the other woman's crassly snide innuendo.
"You know what, fine, I'll pick. And here I though losing my heart would cost me my freewill." She tapped her wand to her lips, mulling over her options. "Perhaps I'll show you Hogsmeade." She thought out loud, more to herself than Regina.
As she went on listing the different eateries Regina found herself drifting back into her own thoughts, only to be removed for them once again by an inquiring Bellatrix. Regina assumed she was asking about food again. And once more Regina simply told her "that last one."
"Hog's Head?" Bellatrix snorted with laughter. "You eating at that tactless place? No, no, I'd better take you to Madam Puddifoot's. You seem like a prude tea shop kind of woman."
Regina felt her anger stir venomously for about the fifth time that day and it had only just begun. "Prude? I am not—you know what, forget it." She started over, "look, I don't care where we eat I'm not all that hungry anyhow."
Bellatrix shrugged, "Madam Puddifoot's it is. All the couples go there and I know how much you love me."
Regina scoffed but opted to follow Bella anyhow, after all there is no better place to discuss revenge and murder than a dainty tea shop.
Bellatrix pushed her way past a small group of people and made her way to a table. She insisted on placing her order first, which was fine by Regina who had planned on saying "I'll have what she's having" anyhow. She found that Bella had become unusually quiet, allowing her to take in the atmosphere. An atmosphere that was uncomfortably gushy and lovey. She felt rather out of place sitting across the table with a woman she barely tolerated. The woman in question began to fidget with the silverware placed before her.
Regina waited for the waitress to deliver their food before finally speaking. "I've heard a thing or two about you." She paused, dropping her voice to a low hush. "Namely that you have a knack for torture." She drummed her fingers on the table and watched Bella take a bored sip from her cup. "What if I told you I had a whole group of people I'd like to see slowly dead?"
The witch set the cup back onto the table, her eyes alit with glee. Regina didn't allow her time to agree or disagree. "But in order to do that, we have to get back to my land."
Bellatrix waved her hand dismissively, "a simple task."
"Simple? Have you tried traveling from world to world?"
"It can't be much more difficult than getting back to the manor from here." Bellatrix finished off her drink. "Speaking of. Do you want to walk back or shall we apparate?"
"It doesn't matter." Regina replied, remembering just how much she hated apparition only after Bellatrix took hold of her hand. She could already see the delight Bellatrix would express at her disoriented state. In a drawn out second, the pair appeared just outside the looming gates. Without so much as a glance back at Bella, Regina retreated into the guest room. She had acquired a certain determination to make up the hours of sleep Bellatrix had cost her.
Her sleep being so filled with dreams most unpleasant, had her waking up with regret that she had given her mind the extra time to concoct such dreadful images. Images of Henry standing over her, a bloody knife in hand. Swan had been there too, coaxing the boy to run his mother through once more.
With her desire to sleep once again depleted, Regina moved to the widow and peered through the curtains, a deep and nearly starless night had fallen upon the manor. From above a think coverage of clouds, a ray of moonlight filtered through the newly parted curtains falling across the floor and settling on the jewelry box she had hidden Bellatrix's heart in. A light rain had begun to tap itself upon the window turning into a near down-pour loud enough to drown out the sound of Bella's beating heart. The thick dark clouds swirled in to obscure the light of the moon. But they were polite enough to provide light of their own, accompanied by bangs noisy enough to set even that large manor atrembling. Regina almost didn't hear the knocking at her door over sky ruckus.
She pulled the door open to see Bellatrix filling the door frame, her dark bed-tousled curls spilling over and covering her pale face. Caught momentarily off guard, Regina flinched the woman looked like something out of a horror film. The witch looked up at Regina.
"Oh don't tell me…" Regina was cut off by Bellatrix pushing past her. "You're not afraid of storms are you?"
"No." Bellatrix mumbled. "Of course not."
Regina hadn't expected her to admit it. She felt compelled to kick the woman out and force her to deal with it, instead she watched Bellatrix sit herself down at the foot of the bed. The former queen had to admit that Bella was good at hiding her apparent phobia—perhaps to save herself some face in front of the Malfoys. Imagine that, a dark witch afraid of a little thunder.
The clouds parted momentarily, and in the moon rays that beamed through the window Regina took in the dark marvel that was Bellatrix Lestrange; her thick long lashes, her nearly-black eyes, her thin slightly parted lips. The way the moonbeams outlined her tall and slender frame.
Regina pulled her gaze away.
Bellatrix beckoned her closer.
And without thinking she moved towards the bed.
"Well I'm glad we could settle that." Regina muttered, her eyes still fixed on the woman in front of her. Exactly what to do with Bella, Regina still didn't know. The only thing she knew for certain is that the woman could never get her heart back, lest Regina find herself dead.
"Such unusually dark magic." She heard Bella whisper. The woman was staring at her heart, a heart that was still beating in Regina's palm. "However do you do it?"
Regina scoffed, "even if I told you, you probably wouldn't be able to manage it."
"How dare you!?" Bella shouted.
To Regina's ever hard to come by luck, a figure shuffled into the alleyway before Bella could continue. She quickly tucked the woman's heart into her jacket and folded her arms across her chest to keep it from falling out of place.
"Bellatrix," hissed a voice. "What part of don't take too long do you not understand?"
Bellatrix chuckled gleefully, apparently forgetting her discontent. "The don't part!"
This Bellatrix is truly amazing, Regina pondered to herself. How can someone who just had her heart ripped out be so excited?
"Who is this?" The man asked, motioning to Regina with his cane.
"Why she's Bella's new friend." Bellatrix answered with a wicked grin as she curled an arm over Regina's shoulder. She squeezed just tight enough to make Regina snarl and twitch uncomfortably. "And of course she'll be staying with us, Lucius."
"And here I thought I'd be seeking out a hotel." Regina mumbled. Truly she hadn't expected or even wanted Bellatrix to offer her a place to stay. On the contrary, she rather dreaded the thought of being in the same house as this woman. "What a lovely offer."
Bellatrix shrugged, "I have to make sure my heart is in safe hands. That you don't lose it."
Regina half-snorted, "lose it? How daft do you think I am."
Bellatrix grabbed her wrist and tugged her along. She followed Lucius out of the alleyway, falling intentionally behind. "You and I have much to discuss when we get home."
"What's to discuss. I have your heart. You do what I say."
"You underestimate me. You see, I'll play along for a little while. But of course I will have my turn eventually."
Still safely out of earshot Regina drew Bellatrix's heart out once more. "You won't dare to tell anyone that I have your heart."
Bellatrix rolled her eyes, "but of course not. Where's the fun in that?" Regina could have sworn she detected a hint of sarcasm. And yet the woman skipped happily ahead of her as if the conversation hadn't happened at all. She watched Bellatrix catch up to a blonde woman. Quite beautiful—Regina noted—with her sleek blonde hair, her fair skin, and her pale blue eyes.
A very sharp contrast to her sister. Gorgeous thing really. Regina observed. Or at least she assumed this woman was the sister Lucius had been referring to.
Her eyes fell upon Bellatrix again, out of the darkness of the alleyway Regina decided that the woman was rather beautiful herself. With enticingly sharp, nearly hollow facial features and skin much lighter than her sisters—or perhaps the dark color of those strangely elegant yet messy curls that created an illusion of paleness. She had likely once been a wonder to see. And indeed there was something oddly alluring about the visages of the woman's former perfection. Regina wondered what had managed to dilute such a former beauty.
"Cissy!" She heard Bella call. "Narcissa, why don't we just apperate?"
Regina shook her head, grateful that Bella had snuffed out that train of thought. That loathsome woman was the last person she wanted to find attractive.
"Does your new muggle friend even know how." Narcissa spared her a slanted glance.
"She's no muggle Cissy." Bellatrix's voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. Regina focused in on her but between Bella's hushed volume and the chatter of passerbys she could make out no more.
"Can you apperate?" Both sisters asked at once."
"Apperate?" Regina cocked an eyebrow.
"Teleport. Get from one place to another using magic." Bellarix sighed as if Regina was supposed to have picked up on all of the rules of this land within a short stroll down what she presumed was a shopping district.
"I would need a visual for that."
"So your magic isn't much different from ours after all." Bellatrix tapped her chin. "I'll meet you at the manor, Cissy." She turned to Regina and held out her arm. "Hold on to my arm and don't let go. You mess this up and lose my heart I will find you between dimensions and I will kill you." She paused, "and for the love of Dark Lord Voldemort, don't vomit on my shoes afterwards."
"You'll find I am rather adapt at 'apperation', thank you." She took hold of Bellatrix's arm. Without another word the witch whisked them away.
To Regina's dismay this apperation was nothing like her own ability to teleport in a soothing cloud of purple smoke. No, this method was disorienting and dizzying—seeming to bend and twist and constrict her body and her breathing in ways neither should be. But for the sake of maintaining dignity she was determined to keep it to herself. Once finally settling upon solid ground a wave of nausea overtook the former queen. She felt truly sick, and based upon Bellatrix ever-smug smile she assumed she looked the part as well.
The burbling fountain did little to ease Regina's spinning world.
"Welcome home luv." Bellatrix said with a wide arcing gesture as if to display the grandeur of this place. "Shall we get inside or would you like to make friends with the shrubbery?"
"I'll leave that to you." Regina delivered the comeback weakly. She followed Bellatrix through the gates hoping that she wasn't still wobbling like a drunk.
"My heart?" Bellatrix asked.
"Is fine." Regina replied.
"Good, good, then dinner will go well."
Regina stepped into the foyer onto a marble floor richly carpeted with expensive rugs. Covered just as thickly as the floor were the walls, the entire expanse of them all was covered in portraits, suites of armor, and other lavish things. The place looked even more dank and dismal than her own castle. "Welcome home indeed."
(Part 4)
Regina held Bellatrix's heart up, trying to find a safe place to hide it. Dinner had been a challenge between Bella herself and the Malfoy couple. None of the three seemed to be pleased by her arrival—the Malfoys had been even less thrilled to hear Bella making snide and snappy remarks. "If you don't like her then why the hell is she in my house?" Lucius and complained. To which Bellatrix only shrugged. The woman didn't have an excuse prepared, not even a poor one.
So Regina had sat at the table silently watching as some strange creature—a house elf, or so Bellatrix called it—set food and drink before her. She had watched the wrinkly, big-eared things with a sense of unease. They'd take some getting used to.
It was around that time when Bellatrix decided that she wanted to make a scene. She had apparently forgotten to stop at Gringotts along the way home. And apparently this was Regina's fault. Again Lucius grumbled something about how Bella could very well "just throw our 'guest' out." And how "living with you, Bellatrix is becoming tiresome."
Much to Regina's annoyance, Bella had naturally brushed off those directly offensive words to pick a fight with her. At some point during that verbal sparring match Regina had considered just whipping the woman's heart across the table just to be done with it—and she hadn't even had it for more than a few hours. She wondered momentarily if this woman was only acting so impudently because she is without her heart. But then she recalled what prompted her to take the witch's heart in the first place and decided that Bellatrix was innately a brash person.
It didn't take long for her to decide that she could endure no more. Between the narrow-eyed glances from Narcissa, Lucius' carefully disguised insults, and Bellatrix's blunt expression of her opinions Regina had retreated. Bella alone was enough to drive her away.
She looks like the type of woman who would start kicking at my legs under the table. Regina mused to herself as she lie on the bed that the house elf had shown her to. And Regina had a striking feeling that the kicking was about to start, hence her hasty departure. The woman was honestly exhausting. How the Malfoy couple managed to put up with her was beyond Regina.
Even from in the semi-comfort of the upstairs guest room she could hear Bella's infuriating shrieking laughter. She's louder than Swan, thought Regina bitterly. More childish too. It was as if someone had thrown a child into the body of a grown woman, just one more unsettling thing about her new alley. She looked at the heart in her palm.
She set the still beating thing down on the window sill, it glowed faintly behind the curtains. She stood to inspect the room for somewhere better to put it. No loose floorboards, no holes in the wall.
Of course not. These people had money to spare and then some. The a drawer would be a choice to obvious. The wardrobe equally so. She could hide it in one of the vases, but what if it got used. That would be Bellatrix's problem, she answered herself. Her eyes then fell upon an ancient looking gothic jewelry box. That would work of course it was also a rather obvious hiding spot, but she could better keep track of it. She slipped Bellatrix's heart into its new home and mumbled a quick protection spell.
She set the box on the nightstand beside her bed.
The beating from within it kept her from sleep.
.oOo.
Dawn had just arisen and Bellatrix was already hassling her. Regina had woken up to the woman's voice—"WAKE UP ALREADY! WE HAVE THINGS TO DO!" Followed up by a few swears and the bang of the door as it was kicked in.
"You could have used magic." Narcissa pointed out, pinching the bridge of her snooty nose.
"Hmmph, magic's not as loud as the slamming of a door against a wall." Bella answered dismissively. She turned her attention back on Regina, who lie in the bed with her eyes closed, still pretending to be asleep. "You will come with me to my vault in Gringotts! After all, it is your fault I wasn't able to get there yesterday."
"My fault?" Regina sneered, she looked around to make sure no one else was in ear shot. "I took your heart not your brain."
"Don't you want a tour of the Wizarding World…or at least Diagon Alley?"
"Diagon Alley?"
"The place where you decide to run into me." Bellatrix shrugged.
"Decided? You think I woke up in the middle of the street and decided that I wanted to run into you specifically." She rolled onto her other side and shut her eyes again.
"You will come to Gringotts with me!" Bellatrix demanded again.
"Are we forgetting who's in charge here?" Regina smiled smugly and gave the jewelry a quick and dainty drum of her fingers.
For the briefest moment it was Bella who seemed to look mildly vexed, but her look irritation quickly transformed into self-satisfied smirk. She drew her wand out, "imperio."
A sort of dreamy haze fell over Regina. It was a pleasant feeling really, as if all of the weight that had been piled onto her since Daniel's death just fell off and fluttered away. It felt to her as if she could flutter away. Smiling warmly, she welcomed the feeling and let it take her over.
"Now let's get to Gringotts, shall we?"
Regina followed Bellatrix with a foggy mind until the pair was decently far down Diagon Alley. It was only when they were coming to the intersection of Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley that she released Regina from her curse.
Regina sputtered out a few curses of her own before asking "just where the hell am I?"
"Why I brought you to Gringotts with me, remember luv?" Bellatrix asked pseudo-sweetly, her face aglow with a delighted smile.
Regina merely glowered.
"It's only fair." Bellatrix continued. "You play with my heart, I play with your head." She pressed the tip of her wand to Regina's head at her temple. "Now let's go visit my vault." She nodded her head in the direction of the bank.
Insistent on making this as difficult for Bellatrix as possible, Regina folded her arms of her chest and declared, "you go on ahead, I'll wait out here." To drive her point in she found one of the marble pillars holding up the structure of the bank and leaned upon it.
Bellatrix chuckled. "Oh you're a tricky one aren't you? Alright then luv, just don't get yourself into trouble."
"This is coming from someone who looks like she causes trouble religiously." Regina dismissed the comment.
In response Bellatrix shrugged and made her way through the crowd looking back briefly only to call, "well if you want to cause trouble go ahead, just tell them that Bella sent you."
Regina sought out a nearby bench to sit on, hoping Bellatrix would make her trip quick so she could become acquainted with more interesting parts of the town. The wand shop—Oliver's was it? She couldn't quite recall—looked intriguing. She spent the first few minutes of Bella's absence pondering about the shops. In the next few she began to feel awkward just sitting there without a purpose. After another ten or so minutes she began wondering if Bella had simply ditched her. Feeling even more awkward she slipped her phone out of her purse, the device still didn't have a signal so she couldn't even pretend to be interested in it. She put it back down and settled for drumming her fingers on the arm rest.
"Oh hey! You're okay." She heard someone shout. She didn't look up. "I'm talking to you." Came the voice again.
Regina pointed out herself.
"Yes, you." The girl sat next to her.
"Right you're…" she tried to recall a name, remembered that didn't pay attention when the girl had said it, and settled for "the one who found me laying in street."
"Yes, Hermione Granger." The girl introduced herself again. "I take it you found an adequate place to stay?"
"Well it's a place to stay. I don't know if you could call it adequate." Regina shrugged.
"You seem like you are in better spirits." Hermione pointed out.
Regina sniffed, "hardly."
Apparently Hermione hadn't much to say to that, for she let a silence befall the pair and occupied herself by pretending to be interested in taming her curls. Regina took a sudden interest in finding shapes in the clouds.
"Say, what do you know of Bellatrix Lestrange?" Regina asked finally.
Hermione's eyes widened, but only for a moment. Regina couldn't quite make out what the girl was feeling, she just knew that it was something negative. "Her? Why?" She answered at last.
"It's just that." Regina paused. "I have heard the name come up on more than one occasion now."
"I'm not surprised. She's as infamous as Harry is famous. And she's honestly quite dreadful."
You're telling me, Regina thought bitterly. "Exactly what makes her so infamous?"
"Well, I don't even know where to start." Hermione began.
Regina eyed the doors to Gringotts, searching the ever moving crowd. Somewhere in her mind told her that she didn't want Bellatrix to catch her talking to Hermione. And that she didn't want Hermione to see her with Bella.
"She's er… not very stable for one. She has killed people for the sake of killing people…"
Been there myself, dear.
"…her own cousin."
"What about him? I'm sorry I missed what you said."
"She killed him." Hermione repeated herself. "Torture usually always makes her smile. I have a friend named Neville, she tortured his parents until their minds went so hectic that they couldn't recognize him."
Regina shot another nervous look at the bank and considered ending the conversation. Come to think of it, Regina thought, she had mentioned this during our squabble hadn't she. She'd let Hermione help her sort the truths from the lies.
"She's a death eater." Hermione added.
"This is the second time I've heard that word." Regina snapped, annoyed by her own lack of knowledge. "What…who are they?"
"They're Voldemort's followers. They hate muggle borns and half bloods." She explained, "people like me." And for Regina's sake added, "people who were born to one muggle and one pureblood or in my case two muggle parents. It's somewhat complicated."
"In other words they are elitists?"
"That's correct." Hermione confirmed. "And some time back they, led by Lord Voldemort, tried to kills us all off. Only purebloods deserved to exist in their perfect, twisted world."
"And Bellatrix was one of them." Regina asked for further confirmation.
"She was one of them yes. More than one of them really. She was his…Voldemort's right hand woman. Frighteningly loyal she did anything he wanted her to do and then some. She devoted herself whole heartedly to his cause. I'm fairly certain that Bellatrix disowned her own sister after she had married a muggle born." Hermione replied.
"That's truly lovely." Regina stated sarcastically.
"Unless you're a pureblood I would avoid her at all costs." Hermione concluded.
Regina gnawed nervously at her cheek. Her mother had indeed been a magic user, though the same couldn't be said for her father. She herself didn't really have that spark for the longest time. "Thank you Hermione."
"You're welcome. If there's anything else you'd like to know you can send me an owl." She offered with a quick explanation. "You can buy one at the Owl Post."
Regina nodded, before catch a glimpse of Bellatrix's slender figure slinking out of Gringotts. Hermione looked like she was about to say something else. "If you'd excuse me I have to leave."
"Oh. Um, alright. I do hope to see you again." Hermione smiled.
"Yes, perhaps." Regina replied before slipping hastily into the crowd, leaving Hermione quite baffled at her sudden departure.
Regina glanced back to make sure the girl hadn't been fool enough to follow her and managed to slam into someone.
"You really have a knack for running into me don't you?" Bellatrix grumbled. "What were you doing anyhow?"
"You took too long so I went exploring." Regina lied.
"Oh good, so that means we can just go right home?"
"You dragged me all the way out here so you will take me out to see the town. Should you decide go back to the manor, I will speak into your heart and we will end up right back over here." Regina declared.
Bellatrix let out the most melodramatic sigh Regina had heard in a while. "Alright fine, follow me."
"Besides, there is something I would like to discuss with you Bella."
(Part 5)
Regina had to confess that she had been paying only half attention as Bella listed off the names of the shops and restaurants rooted to the sidewalks of Diagon Alley. She was more or less preoccupied with wording what she'd soon say. How she would bring the topic up without disclosing where she had found her information.
"Do you have a preference? You strike me as the picky type." Bellatrix broke through her stream of though.
"Preference for what?" Regina asked.
Bellatrix let out a hiss of irritation. As if the woman doesn't have problems paying attention herself, Regina thought bitterly.
"Where would you like to eat?" Bellatrix rephrased.
"That last place you mentioned." Regina shrugged.
"The last place I mentioned was Ollivanders. If you fancy eating wands we could always find you a nice man, maybe Cissy will let you borrow Lucius."
"The last food place you mentioned." Regina corrected, making a point of ignoring the other woman's crassly snide innuendo.
"You know what, fine, I'll pick. And here I though losing my heart would cost me my freewill." She tapped her wand to her lips, mulling over her options. "Perhaps I'll show you Hogsmeade." She thought out loud, more to herself than Regina.
As she went on listing the different eateries Regina found herself drifting back into her own thoughts, only to be removed for them once again by an inquiring Bellatrix. Regina assumed she was asking about food again. And once more Regina simply told her "that last one."
"Hog's Head?" Bellatrix snorted with laughter. "You eating at that tactless place? No, no, I'd better take you to Madam Puddifoot's. You seem like a prude tea shop kind of woman."
Regina felt her anger stir venomously for about the fifth time that day and it had only just begun. "Prude? I am not—you know what, forget it." She started over, "look, I don't care where we eat I'm not all that hungry anyhow."
Bellatrix shrugged, "Madam Puddifoot's it is. All the couples go there and I know how much you love me."
Regina scoffed but opted to follow Bella anyhow, after all there is no better place to discuss revenge and murder than a dainty tea shop.
Bellatrix pushed her way past a small group of people and made her way to a table. She insisted on placing her order first, which was fine by Regina who had planned on saying "I'll have what she's having" anyhow. She found that Bella had become unusually quiet, allowing her to take in the atmosphere. An atmosphere that was uncomfortably gushy and lovey. She felt rather out of place sitting across the table with a woman she barely tolerated. The woman in question began to fidget with the silverware placed before her.
Regina waited for the waitress to deliver their food before finally speaking. "I've heard a thing or two about you." She paused, dropping her voice to a low hush. "Namely that you have a knack for torture." She drummed her fingers on the table and watched Bella take a bored sip from her cup. "What if I told you I had a whole group of people I'd like to see slowly dead?"
The witch set the cup back onto the table, her eyes alit with glee. Regina didn't allow her time to agree or disagree. "But in order to do that, we have to get back to my land."
Bellatrix waved her hand dismissively, "a simple task."
"Simple? Have you tried traveling from world to world?"
"It can't be much more difficult than getting back to the manor from here." Bellatrix finished off her drink. "Speaking of. Do you want to walk back or shall we apparate?"
"It doesn't matter." Regina replied, remembering just how much she hated apparition only after Bellatrix took hold of her hand. She could already see the delight Bellatrix would express at her disoriented state. In a drawn out second, the pair appeared just outside the looming gates. Without so much as a glance back at Bella, Regina retreated into the guest room. She had acquired a certain determination to make up the hours of sleep Bellatrix had cost her.
Her sleep being so filled with dreams most unpleasant, had her waking up with regret that she had given her mind the extra time to concoct such dreadful images. Images of Henry standing over her, a bloody knife in hand. Swan had been there too, coaxing the boy to run his mother through once more.
With her desire to sleep once again depleted, Regina moved to the widow and peered through the curtains, a deep and nearly starless night had fallen upon the manor. From above a think coverage of clouds, a ray of moonlight filtered through the newly parted curtains falling across the floor and settling on the jewelry box she had hidden Bellatrix's heart in. A light rain had begun to tap itself upon the window turning into a near down-pour loud enough to drown out the sound of Bella's beating heart. The thick dark clouds swirled in to obscure the light of the moon. But they were polite enough to provide light of their own, accompanied by bangs noisy enough to set even that large manor atrembling. Regina almost didn't hear the knocking at her door over sky ruckus.
She pulled the door open to see Bellatrix filling the door frame, her dark bed-tousled curls spilling over and covering her pale face. Caught momentarily off guard, Regina flinched the woman looked like something out of a horror film. The witch looked up at Regina.
"Oh don't tell me…" Regina was cut off by Bellatrix pushing past her. "You're not afraid of storms are you?"
"No." Bellatrix mumbled. "Of course not."
Regina hadn't expected her to admit it. She felt compelled to kick the woman out and force her to deal with it, instead she watched Bellatrix sit herself down at the foot of the bed. The former queen had to admit that Bella was good at hiding her apparent phobia—perhaps to save herself some face in front of the Malfoys. Imagine that, a dark witch afraid of a little thunder.
The clouds parted momentarily, and in the moon rays that beamed through the window Regina took in the dark marvel that was Bellatrix Lestrange; her thick long lashes, her nearly-black eyes, her thin slightly parted lips. The way the moonbeams outlined her tall and slender frame.
Regina pulled her gaze away.
Bellatrix beckoned her closer.
And without thinking she moved towards the bed.